1911 Portuguese National Constituent Assembly election

1911 Portuguese National Constituent Assembly election

←  1910 28 May 1911 1913  →
All 234 seats in the National Constituent Assembly 118 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Teófilo Braga Azedo Gneco Party Republican Socialist Seats won 229 2
Prime Minister before election Teófilo Braga Republican Prime Minister after election Teófilo Braga Republican

National Constituent Assembly elections were held in Portugal on 28 May 1911 following a coup in October 1910. ^[1] The result was a victory for the Portuguese Republican Party, which won 229 of the 234 seats. ^[2]

Electoral system

The country was divided into 51 constituencies for the elections. ^[3] Lisbon elected 20 members from two 10 member seats using proportional representation and the d'Hondt method, whilst Porto had one 10 member constituency using the same system. ^[3] The remaining seats were elected from 48 constituencies with three or four members. ^[3]

Property qualifications for voters were abolished and suffrage was extended to all adults who were either literate or heads of their households, as well as soldiers, who had previously been barred from voting. ^[4] Bankrupts and "vagabonds" were excluded from the electoral roll. ^[3]

Candidates for the election had to be literate, and could not run in more than one seat. ^[3] Party lists had to obtain a certain number of signatures in every constituency (100 in Lisbon and Porto and 25 in other constituencies) in order to contest the election. ^[3]

Parties

The table below lists the parties that contested the elections:

Party			Ideology	Position	Leader
	PRP	Portuguese Republican Party Partido Republicano Português	Republicanism Radicalism	Centre	Teófilo Braga
	PSP	Portuguese Socialist Party Partido Socialista Português	Socialism Proudhonism	Left-wing	Azedo Gneco

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Portuguese Republican Party			229
	Portuguese Socialist Party			2
	Independents			3
Total				234
Registered voters/turnout		846,801	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Parliamentary seats Republicans   97.86% Socialist Party   0.85% Others   1.31%

Aftermath

The 1911 constitution was subsequently drawn up, which provided for a bicameral parliament and a president elected by a two-thirds vote in parliament. ^[3] This constitution provided that the Assembly would partition itself into two bodies to form the first parliament: 71 of its members would form the Senate, while the remaining membership would become the Chamber of Deputies.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1542 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1551
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1534
4. Nohlen & Stöver, pp1533-1534